Hey, all you city folks–and especially parents–get out of town! Here’s a taste of what we country folks have in store for you on October weekends, just a short drive, bike ride, or train ride from your megalopolis. Yes, you can do this from New York, from Chicago, from L.A., and from smaller cities.

• Fall foliage drives/bike rides, of course (my wife and I took a gorgeous bike ride this weekend, on a bike trail through the Berkshires with peak foliage reflected in the lakes we passed)
• Haunted hayrides
• Pumpkin carving or painting
• Apple picking at a you-pick orchard
• Farmers markets and farmstands (this may change forever your idea of what a tomato tastes like)
• Lots of cultural events: the tail ends of the summer festivals AND the opening galas of the fall concert and theater venues
• Small-town fall festivals and craft fairs

If you don’t know the territory, browse the websites of nearby chambers of commerce and agricultural organizations, as well as visitors centers along major highways.

Lots more ideas in my $8.50 e-book, The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant’s Pocketbook. 280 pages of cheap fun ideas.

Note: If you subscribe to my Frugal Marketig or Frugal Fun Tips or Positive Power of Principled Profit, some of this will be familiar. #1 may be new to Frugal Tips readers, and #6 and #7 are brand new.

1. Blog at FastCompany

I’ve been one of major sustainable business magazine FastCompany’s expert bloggers for months. There is no cost involved.  FastCompany.com is looking for expert bloggers across all eight of our core topic areas: innovation, technology, design, social responsibility, work/life, management, leadership and careers. An expert blogger is someone who has a wealth of continually developing knowledge about his or her particular field, and can write flawlessly and in a compelling yet conversational manner. Candidates do not need to already have a blog or to have experience blogging, so long as they can demonstrate a good grasp over the Web 2.0 tools necessary to attract an audience online. As one of the most well established business magazines in the country, and perhaps the most engaged and dynamic business community online, FastCompany.com is a great platform for someone who is looking to establish themselves as a thought leader and influencer within their particular field. Expert bloggers get high visibility — blogs are featured on Fast Company’s homepage and its relevant topic pages. Using the site as a platform for their name, brand and ideas will enable your clients to build a following, publicize their work and, of course, leverage Fast Company’s brand to establish credibility as an expert on their topic. People can subscribe to feeds of individual expert blogs, and bloggers can build their exposure by linking to their own site, book or company in their blog posts and/or blog description. Although an unpaid position, being an expert blogger is not particularly time-consuming, as our only requirement is that they blog once a week (more frequent posts are encouraged but not mandatory). There are no requirements regarding length, so long as the content is insightful, informative, provocative and interesting. If you have any clients who might be suitable for this opportunity, please contact us. Contact: Saabira Chaudhuri, expertblogs@fastcompany.com
Submitted By: Saabira Chaudhuri
Organization: Fast Company
Need leads by: Oct 15, 2008 05:00 PM EST(America/New_York)

2. Powerful Interview with Joe Sugarman, and More

Mark Joyner’s Simpleology captured a live speech by master marketer Joe Sugarman. Watch him tell an amazing story about a product launch that literally took two decades to pull off, then watch him create a sales frenzy right there in the room, and then watch him do something completely unexpected. Joyner calls that last part the most powerful ten minutes of marketing he’s ever seen.

The first part of this speech is available for the taking just for signing up for a free teleseminar on October 8, and the second part is free if you have a (no-cost) Simpleology account. You can set one up easily at the above URL if you don’t have one yet, and it allows you all sorts of free resources. Yes, this is a lead-in to a course that Mark charges for, featuring other master marketers including the legendary Ted Nicholas. But there’s no obligation and the video is well-worth watching.

3. Paulette Ensign’s Publishing Prosperity Course

I listened to the first call in a year-long series from my good friend Paulette, creator of a whole (and wildly successful) industry around packaging your expertise into little tips booklets. Now, Paulette has gathered together an awesome team of experts into a whole series of seminars. She calls it the Publishing Prosperity course, and is off to a flying start with an excellent hour with Marcia Yudkin, one of the smartest and most ethical people in the marketing world–on how to turn ordinary products and pitches into something remarkable and newsworthy. You get the recording when you purchase the course, and 12 other very skilled experts. I’m proud to say that I’m included, though not for another year.

4. JointWinWin.com

Tom O’Brien contacted me over the summer to tel me about a new venture, JointWinWin.com. You get a free listing in his business directory, in return for a promise that you’ll donate eight-tenths of one percent to charity (which you’re probably doing already). And I can tell you from personal experience that people are visiting this site and following links! Tom has also signed the Business Ethics Pledge, and has brought in a number of signers who found the pledge on his site.

5. Perfect Networker

A whole new social network based on my friend and colleague Bob Burg’s principles of winning without intimidation and endless referrals–and his newest book, The Go-Giver? Wow! I say no to most social networks, but I said yes to this one. My username is ShelHorowitzEthicalMarketingExpert and you can find my profile at http://www.perfectnetworker.com/network/ShelHorowitzEthicalMarketingExpert/

6.  Freebie Beat-The-Recession Report From Marcia Yudkin

I’ve known Marcia before either of us were famous. Two things I really like about this report: it’s very upbeat, and it doesn’t cost anything. 33 Keys to Thriving During a Recession Free Report

7. Perry Marshall’s Advanced-Level AdWords Training

Perry knows more about AdWords than almost anybody. This inexpensive series of calls already started, but if he’ll provide a recording of the one you missed (and any you can’t make) once you sign up.

Anatomy of a Promotional Offer

This is a real offer (actually two real offers) that I’m making to you–and then I’m going to analyze it and show you my exact thinking in constructing it. I think this may be extremely helpful in your own marketing, especially since I deliberately violate two key marketing rules.

Here are the offers:

With the holidays coming up, this is a great chance to save money on Shel’s books–they make fabulous gifts for the entrepreneurs, authors, marketers, and business managers in your life, or for those who’d like to be authors or marketers.

As a subscriber, you can not only get the usual discounts for ordering the books in combination, but you also get FREE shipping in the U.S. (or a $5 savings on shipping elsewhere) on any order for printed books now through December 1–and that offer is not for the general public. This offer holds for single copies of any of these books, and multiple copies of the two Grassroots books.

To get the free shipping, all you have to do is visit our order page at https://www.frugalmarketing.com/cart/ If you’re in the U.S., enter FREESHIP when you get to the Discounts and Coupons field and the cart will automatically zero out your shipping. If you’re elsewhere, enter FREESHIP in the comment field (NOT the coupons) and I’ll manually take $5 off (I still have to punch every order into a cc terminal so this is not a big deal)

If you want multiple copies of Principled Profit–a very wise decision–I have an even better deal for you a bit farther down the page. (If you want to know more about any particular book, please click the book titles):